Saturday, August 1, 2009

Matthew Steinberg's Recipes

Mayflower Porter

Taking its cues from “Three Threads”, a bartender’s blend of three distinct ales, Porter became the beer of choice for 18th-century Londoners. Mayflower Porter embraces this history. This complex brew is smooth and full-flavored with notes of roasted coffee beans and bittersweet chocolate that will warm the palate all year long.

"The beer itself is a dedication to a girl...cunning and blatant, embodied among succulent notes of earth and spice. I wanted to make a really hoppy beer that was in the Belgian tradition. De Ranke XX Bitter happens to be one of my favorite beers in the world, not that I was trying to brew a beer specifically like that, but I used that beer as a stepping off point."

Neither of us has brewed either of these yet, but these are two excellent beers. The Mayflower Porter has just enough smoke to be complex (but still not be a "smoked" beer) and the Hop Goddess is just a hop freak-out with some Belgian nuance.